Evolution is one of those topics in biology that both teachers and students really look forward to covering. It allows us to take a journey through time exploring how the diversity of life on this earth came about and how organisms became extinct or survived through processes such as natural selection and adaptive radiation. Full of history, it allows us to trace back our own origins to the beginning of time through fossil and molecular evidence from chimp to man. What other topic allows us to have as much fun as we look at different forms of adaptations such as mimicry and camouflage or even look at examples of co-evolution all based on changes in the environment or various specitiation models. And the best part is, these are just five VERY COOL examples that both students and teachers love to explore! And there is so much more to learn! Evolution is one of those topics which helps people develop a new found appreciation for it while having fun learning about the concepts.
One of the few challenges for teaching evolution is picking and choosing what topics you really want to cover that will allow a student to grasp the bigger picture while still learning about the smaller components such as the history, the mechanisms, genetics as a driving force, the controversies and of course, the evidence that it exists in the first place.
Feeling fortunate to begin student teaching by covering a unit on Evolution, I have put a great deal of thought into what I want students to take out of the three week period and how do I make each lesson enjoyable for the students. My first goal was to differientiate instruction as much as possible by using an array of activities such as Evolution Speed Dating (introduction to evolution), a true inquiry-based investigation (exploring Natural Selection), island hopping (speciation), stationary mini- labs (evidence for Evolution) and lastly, creative writing (evolution & society). My goal was to create activities that would cater to different learning styles and needs.
Rationale for Teaching Evolution
Evolution is one of those topics in biology that both teachers and students really look forward to covering. It allows us to take a journey through time exploring how the diversity of life on this earth came about and how organisms became extinct or survived through processes such as natural selection and adaptive radiation. Full of history, it allows us to trace back our own origins to the beginning of time through fossil and molecular evidence from chimp to man. What other topic allows us to have as much fun as we look at different forms of adaptations such as mimicry and camouflage or even look at examples of co-evolution all based on changes in the environment or various specitiation models. And the best part is, these are just five VERY COOL examples that both students and teachers love to explore! And there is so much more to learn! Evolution is one of those topics which helps people develop a new found appreciation for it while having fun learning about the concepts.
One of the few challenges for teaching evolution is picking and choosing what topics you really want to cover that will allow a student to grasp the bigger picture while still learning about the smaller components such as the history, the mechanisms, genetics as a driving force, the controversies and of course, the evidence that it exists in the first place.
Feeling fortunate to begin student teaching by covering a unit on Evolution, I have put a great deal of thought into what I want students to take out of the three week period and how do I make each lesson enjoyable for the students. My first goal was to differientiate instruction as much as possible by using an array of activities such as Evolution Speed Dating (introduction to evolution), a true inquiry-based investigation (exploring Natural Selection), island hopping (speciation), stationary mini- labs (evidence for Evolution) and lastly, creative writing (evolution & society). My goal was to create activities that would cater to different learning styles and needs.